It was the last date for applying to ISKSAA 2016 fellowships, I was skeptical whether to apply for the ISKSAA fellowship or not, as I was not sure of my chances of getting one. Somehow I made up my mind and submitted my application in person at Bajaj Specialty clinics in Delhi as I worked in AIIMS as SR at that time. To be honest, I did not expect, but I was shortlisted among 6 candidates for 2 posts of UK Midlands fellowship. Although, it was 1 in 3 chance of securing the fellowship, I was not confident as I was the newest ISKSAA member among the shortlisted candidates. During ISKSAA 2016 summit, we were interviewed by Dr. Lalitmaini; it was a comfortable one to one conversation, not like a bossy interview. A few days later, I got an email form ISKSAA secretariat mentioning that I was selected for fellowship along with Dr. Harshil Vora; it was really a pleasant surprise. In a matter of weeks, I could contact Harshil via FB and we came to a consensus about dates. In January, we have requested Dr. Ved Goswami to pursue afellowship in September- October; he gracefully agreed and gave details of medical workforce team to proceed with VISA application, occupational health clearance and so on. I got my visa and was ready for the travel to England for the first time. Thanks to previous fellow Dr. Darsh who gave an overall idea about the formalities to be completed and accommodation during thefellowship.

On 30^th August 2017, I flew from Chennai to London and took thetrain to Birmingham, Harshil reached to Birmingham the next day. We met and introduced ourselves with a coffee in Heartlands hospital. I was given a flat in Solihull and he was initially given accommodation in Heartlands, later he joined me in Solihull. We met Dr. Goswami in BMI Edgbaston on 1^st Sep, he greeted us and made sure we are comfortable with our stay. He gave an overall idea about the fellowship and gave us the schedule of timings and hospitals. He operates in Solihull on alternate Mondays & Wednesdays, in Spire Parkway on Tuesdays and Saturdays and in BMI on alternate Fridays. He took pains to contact all his colleagues in Solihull to allow us to participate in surgeries during his absence. Dr. Goswami is a versatile surgeon; able administrator and a humble human being, everyone in thehospital had high regards for him. We were able to assist primary and revision THR, TKR, UKR, Cuff repair, Bankart’s, ACL reconstructions and Meniscal repairs. Amidst major surgeries, he will often have minor procedures like Carpal tunnel/ trigger finger release, Morton’s neuroma excision, High Volume injections for plantar fasciitis, Facet joint injection for spine and so on. He teaches us during and after the surgeries and we felt very comfortable to ask him the queries we had. At an average, there will be atotal of 8 cases a day (3 or 4 joints, 2 or 3 scopes, and few minor procedures). The way he keeps the entire team energetic till the end of the day is amazing; the whole team will stay cool and active until the end. Dr. Su Shilling was the anesthetist who orchestrates the entire happenings in the OT hassle- free. She is very friendly and helping. She guided us in each and every activity of us, be it finding a restaurant, or purchasing Indian stuff, or local sight-seeing, or planning our return journey and what not.Dr. Dinesh was another anesthesia consultant who kept us entertained us in the OT.

We were assisting various other consultants in addition to Dr. Goswami during our fellowship. As I was more inclined towards learning arthroscopic procedures, I chose to observe/ assist consultants performing those. Dr. Madhur Shrivastava being the first in thelist, we spent all our Thursdays with him and participated in many shoulder scopys including an Inspace balloon arthroplasty, Reverse shoulder and Shoulder resurfacing surgeries. Dr. Salamaknew Dr. Bajaj personally and he happily shared the tips and tricks of reverse shoulder arthroplasty during those procedures. It was really a touching moment for me see the ‘Birmingham hip’ revision to THR in Birmingham for a patient after 19 years of primary surgery. Although that MoM implant has lost the favor nowadays, I was happy to see that revision surgery done by Dr. Bhattacharya. Typical Oxford UKRs were performed by Dr. Dunbar and he explained about the instrumentation in detail. I have assisted Dr. Shyamalan, in arthroscopic fixation and bone grafting for scaphoid nonunion, he shared his training experiences and struggles faced in hand and wrist arthroscopy. Dr. Makrides demonstrated a case of direct superior approach to hip replacement. I have observed Revision ACL with ALL reconstruction procedures by Dr. Arbuthnot. All the consultants treated us very well in a friendly manner. In addition the staff nurses and the representatives from industries have patiently explained/ demonstrated various products which were new to me like Ultra FASTFIX, TWIN FIX, Q- FIX with MAGNUM WIRE, PopLock, SwiveLock, BIORAPTOR, First PASS, ACCU PASS, SCORPION, AEQUALIS Reversed, Modular Dual Mobility (MDM) to name a few. We participated in a journal club and had active interaction with the registrars there. Dr. Shishir was the registrar with whom we spent time very friendly during and after surgeries.

Dr. Goswami and Shilling madam kept on telling us the places to visit on Sundays / holidays. We had been to Birmingham city center, Victoria square, Aston Hall, Science museum and Stratford upon Avon. During Dr. Goswami’s visit to India for ISKSAA 2017, we managed to visit London for a couple of days. Further, we went for a half day Jaguar- Landrovermanufacturing tour in their production unit. The stay in Solihull hospital flat was comfortable, the kitchen had all utensils and there was provision for laundry as well. We had lunch in the hospital restaurants and prepared breakfast and dinner by ourselves.

Days passed rapidly and we reached last week of the fellowship. Dr. Shilling arranged a grand dinner in a Spanish restaurant where we discussed many things about England, India, travel, life, and philosophy. It was a memorable farewell from her. Dr. Goswami had Trauma week just a couple of days before we left, so my last day of fellowship was in Heartlands hospital trauma OT. He has invited us to his magnificent house ‘The Yew trees’ where we had a nice chat with Mrs.MallikaGoswami, and their children Karan and Kavitha. Karan is an orthopedic registrar pursuing research in the USA and came for the weekend. He became were close to both of us in a short span, we exchanged details of training in India & UK and many funny things. Latermyself and Harshil were taken to an Indian restaurant for a sumptuous dinner with Dr. Goswami’s family. We expressed our gratitude for organizing the fellowship and they wholeheartedly wished us Good luck.Finally, I left Birmingham on 16^th October with evergreen memories.

I would recommend this fellowship to young orthopods who wish to experience system in the UK and learn intricacies of scopy and plasty. A word of caution, the medical workforce department needs to be contacted frequently at the start of fellowship because they process our application just as like any other new recruit in the trust, so initial induction processes may get delayed. We faced teething problems in the first week like getting ID badges,OT and Library access, and Occupational Health check clearance;fortunately,Dr. Goswami intervened and fastened the process.

I express my sincere gratitude to ISKSAA board members, Dr. Lalitmaini and Pushpinder Bajaj in particular for taking painstaking efforts to help juniors and spread knowledge by collaborating with surgeons across the globe. I am indebted and grateful to Dr. Ved Goswami who generously hosted us and shared his knowledge and wisdom. In words of America author William Arthur Ward “The mediocre mentor tells, the good mentor explains, the superior mentor demonstrates, but the great mentor inspires”, Dr. Goswami really inspired us. I thank all the consultants, registrars and staff in Solihull, Spire Parkway and BMI for their immense assistance throughout the fellowship period to make our stay a fruitful one. In nutshell, it was a homely learning experience.